Teaching Phonics and Phonemic Awareness

Steven A. Stahl

University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignCenter for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words (Torgesen, 1998).

Rhyming & Alliteration

Syllable Blending & Segmenting

Onset-Rime Blending & Segmenting

Phoneme Blending & Segmenting

Phonological Awareness Instruction

Sentence Segmenting

PhonicsAn understanding of the alphabetic principle—the relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters).

What do we want readers to be able to do?• Enjoy and Appreciate Reading

Literature and Non-fiction• Comprehend and Learn from Text• Recognize Words Automatically

These 3 goals are related...

• If children do not recognize words automatically, they cannot comprehend text effectively.

• If children do not comprehend text effectively, they will not want to read.

National Reading Panel:Phonics Findings

• Overall, phonics instruction had a significant effect on reading achievement.

• Most (2/3) of the effect sizes involved measures of decoding or word recognition

• Effects were significant, but smaller, on measures of comprehension and oral reading

National Reading Panel:Phonics Findings

• The effects of different types of phonics programs (synthetic phonics, programs which emphasized phonograms, miscellaneous) did not differ from each other.

• This suggests that there is no one right method of teaching phonics, but that many methods of teaching children to decode are effective.

National Reading Panel:Phonics Findings

• Phonics instruction is more effective in kindergarten and first grade than in grades 2-6.

• Phonics instruction meets a developmental need.

See Continuum Tompkins pg. 114 (see 112 as well)

National Reading Panel:Phonics Findings

• Phonics instruction can be effective for children with reading problems, but it is most effective in the early grades.

• Phonics instruction did not significantly effect the reading of older children with reading problems, who may not have needed this instruction.

National Reading Panel:Phonics Findings

• Phonological awareness instruction is effective in kindergarten and first grade.

• Phonological awareness instruction is especially effective when combined with letter training and as part of a total literacy program

What the report does not say

• It does not support any particular phonics program.

• It does not talk about “decodable text.”• It does not support intensive phonics

instruction.• It does not talk about the content of a

phonics program.

Why do we teach phonics?

• Phonics instruction leads to better achievement, at least when integrated into a total reading program.

• Children need a strategy to figure out unknown words

• Children need to recognize words quickly and automatically.

Development of Word Recognition • Visual Cueing

• Partial Alphabetic Cueing

• Child uses a visual cue, such as the two “eyes” in look or the “tail” in monkey.

• Child uses salient letter, usually beginning, sometimes last.

Development of Word Recognition• Full Alphabetic

Coding

• Automaticity

• Child uses all letters, including vowels, to “sound out” words

• Child recognizes words automatically, using chunks or analogies

Emergent Spelling

• What Students Do Correctly– Write on page– Hold the writing

implement– Horizontal

movement across the page

• What Students Use but Confuse

– Drawing, scribbling, letter-like forms

– Directionality

Early Letter-Name - Alphabetic Spelling

• Represent most salient sounds, especially beginning consonants

• Most letters of the alphabet

• Directionality• Partial spelling of

consonant blends and digraphs

• S, SHP for ship• B, BD for bed• Y for when• L, LP for lump• U for you• FL for float

Middle Letter-Name - Alphabetic Spelling

• What Students Correctly Do– Most beginning and

ending consonants– Clear letter-sound

correspondences– Frequently occurring

short vowel sounds

• BAD for bed• SEP or SHP for

ship• FOT for float• LOP for lump

Middle Letter-Name - Alphabetic Spelling

• What Students do Correctly– Regular short vowel

patterns– Most consonant blends

and digraphs– Preconsonantal nasals– Some common long

vowel words, name, time

• Lump spelled correctly

• FLOT for float• BAKR for baker• PLAS for place• BRIT for bright

Early Within Word Spelling

• What Students do Correctly– Good accuracy on

r-influenced single syllable short vowel words, fur, bird

– Some infrequently used short vowels and frequently used long vowel words

• FLOTE for float• PLAIS for place• BRIET for bright• TABL for table

Middle Within Word Spelling• Slightly more than half of

long vowel words in single syllable words

• Consistently uses long vowel markers, SNAIK for snake.

• Substitutions in frequent, unstressed syllable patterns, TECHAUR for teacher

• ed and other common inflections, MARCHT, BATID

• SPOLE for spoil• DRIEV for drive

Developing the Phonological Insight• This is the insight that spoken

words can be thought of as collections of sounds.

• It is usually acquired first with consonants.

Good phonics instruction should develop phonological awareness• Phonological awareness instruction

should stress children’s awareness of sounds in spoken words.

• Phonological awareness instruction usually includes both blending and segmentation.

• Phonological awareness instruction works best when combined with decoding and spelling.

Phonological awareness refers to awareness of all of these aspects of spoken words.

Phoneme awareness only refers to phonemes.

Some concepts…..

• Phoneme: smallest unit of speech,not always able to be pronounced in isolation

• Syllable: cluster around a vowel• Onset: part of syllable before the

vowel• Rime: rest of the syllable

Onsets and rimes

• Stand• Rope• straw• and

How do we teach syllables and Onsets and Rimes?• Reading and memorizing rhymes• Clapping out rhymes• How many beats?• Pointing out the rhymes • Can you guess the word? (d-uck,

c-at)• Alliteration

Begin with children’s names

• They are most personal.• Label cubbyholes.• Use name cards.• Children should learn their own

names and the names of everyone else in the class.

Phonological Awareness Activities• Sound to word

matching

• Word to Word matching

• The Troll• Which word begins

with the same sound as _______?

• Which one does not belong?

• Sound sorting

To Market, To Market

• To market, to market to but a fat pig;

• Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

• To market, to market to but a fat hog;

• Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

Phonological Awareness

• Play with sounds in words underlies children’s learning about letters and sounds

• Part of preschool education as long as there have been nursery rhymes

• Important to include letters in activities, including alphabet books and invented spelling

National Reading Panel:Phonological Awareness Findings

• Phonological awareness instruction is effective in kindergarten and first grade.

• Phonological awareness instruction is especially effective when combined with letter training and as part of a total literacy program

Phonological Awareness Activities• Rhyming• Word-to-word

matching• Initial sounds• Segmentation

• Blending• Deletion

• Reciting or making rhymes

• Which word does not belong?

– Man, move, pit, monkey• What is the first sound in

fish?• Breaking a word into

sounds,– May use boxes • What word is /f/ /i/ /sh/?• Say “make” without /m/?

Alphabet books

• L is for Lion

How do we teach phonics?Good Phonics Instruction Should Develop

The Alphabetic Principle.

TeachBlend

Manipulate

Practice

Blend

• lay• clay• play• say• pay

• train• rail• sail• paid

4Do you know the way to the park? I will wait for you there.

Practice

a y a i

n

st

gr

pl m d

w

f

d

m

p

r

pl br

ay

ai

l

n

Word Building

d

Phonics Instruction

• Good phonics instruction should not teach rules, need not use worksheets, should not dominate instruction, and does not have to be boring.

Phonics Rules

• When two vowels go walking… 45%

• Silent “e” rule…. 63%• When a vowel is in the

middle of a one-syllable word, it is short…. 60%

bead

bone

cat

does

love

scold

Developing the orthographic insight• This is the insight that words are

spelled one particular way.• For example, there is no reason that

“boat” is not spelled “bote”.• Children have to learn particular

spellings.• This usually comes when learning long

vowels which are more variable.

Manipulate

• Segmenting – “Making and Breaking” (Reading

Recovery)– “Making Words” (Pat Cunningham)

• Word Sorts• Letter Strips• Word Building• Spelling

Making words

• Choose a group of letters• Have children make increasingly

complex words.• Final word should be long word. • Put each word in a pocket chart• Do a word sort with chart words.

a a a c g h n o o t t

a a a c g h n o o t t

• to• an• ant• too• cat/act• nag• chat• tang

• than• hang• hoot• can’t• toga• chant• achoo• thong

a c e f g i i m n t

• it• in• cat / act• man• ace• tin• fit• mint• cent

• mice• fact• gift• main• agent• infant• inmate• imagine• figment

Compare/contrast

• Direct teaching of the process of comparing new words to known words.

• First, teach set of “wall words”. The next slide has a list of 37 phonograms that can be used to generate about 500 primary grade words.

• Then teach children the process of comparing new words to known words.

Common phonograms-ack -ain -ake -ale -all-ame -an -ank -ap -ash-at -ate -aw -ay -eat -ell -est -ice -ick -ide-ight -ill -in -ine -ing -ink -ip -it -ock -oke-op -ot -ore -uck -ug-ump -unk

From Wylie and Durrell, 1970

Word Sorts

• Closed Sorts– Give students lists of

words which have multiple common features

– You provide the category

– Students classify words into groups

• Open Sorts– Give students lists of

words which have multiple common features

– Students make up categories

– Must justify categories– Works well in groups

wail pay pad failray laid lap fadstain play hand said

Say Sad

With shin thin thickthat wash rash shipsham pith path math

What do you teach?

• Kindergarten– Basic Phonological Awareness– Consonant sounds– Consonant blends (introduce)– Short vowels (introduce)

What do you teach?

• First grade– Short Vowels– Consonant Digraphs (sh, th, ch)– Consonant blends– Vowel digraphs (ai, oa, ay, etc.)– Silent e – Diphthongs– r- controlled vowels– Variant vowels

What do you teach?

• Second grade– Variant vowels– Inflectional endings– Begin prefixes and suffixes

Practice

• The most important practice we do involves applying phonics in connected text.

What kinds of text?

• Instructional level text

• Authentic text• Predictable text• Decodable text

Instructional level text

• Should be text that child can read with some support

• Needed to practice integration of all reading skills

• Needed to develop comprehension abilities

Authentic Text

• Needed to develop higher level concepts and vocabulary

• Needed to develop children’s interest in reading

• Should be relatively difficult• Might be read aloud to class or

read with support by students

Predictable Text

• Used to develop print concept and “booksuccess”.

• Used to develop fingerpointing and print-speech match.

• Might be read using Shared Reading model.

• Should be phased out by middle of first grade.

Decodable Text

• Should contain a reasonable percentage of words with a taught pattern

• Used for practice of decoding in context

• The best texts tell a story that is comprehensible; the worst texts make little or no sense

• Should be practiced by children, possibly with repeated reading.

Practice words in texts

• Fish Dish• “I wish, wish, wish

• For a dish,” said the fish,• “With a yam, yam, yam,• And a little bit of jam, • And I want thin ham

• With that yam!” said the fish.

Scaffolding for Word Recognition• Teachers coach to provide instruction in word

recognition by asking questions such as, "What can you do to figure out that word?"– “Do you see a chunk (or phonogram) you

recognize?”– “Does it look like any other words you know?”– “Can you sound it out?”– “What does the first letter say? What does the

next letter say? Etc. Now blend the sounds together.”

– “Does that word look right for what is on the page?”

– “Does it make sense in the story?”

Scaffolding for Word Recognition• Other strategies to figure out words or ask them

to explain what they did to figure out a word. – “I like how you corrected that.”– “Good checking!”– “How did you know it couldn't be...?”– “What did you do to figure that word out?”

• Word recognition coaching prompts are hints or questions

• that get children to engage in self-monitoring strategies as well as a variety of word recognition strategies to use with words not known instantly.

• From Barbara Taylor, P. David Pearson, et al. (1999)

Good Phonics Instruction is a part of reading instruction.

It is an important part, but just a part.